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No. 783,410. PATENTED FEB. 28, 1905, J. BERGOPF.

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APPLIGATION rnlnn AUG. 31, 1904.

77?)??? asses M gee/cit I I v/1 far- NITED STATES Patented February 28,1905.

JULIUS BERGOFF, OF BUFFALO,

JEWELRY CASE COMPANY, OF BUFFALO,

RATION OF NEW YORK.

NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO EMPIRE NEW YORK, A CORPO- BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent- No. 783,410, datedFebruary 28 1905.

4 Application filed August 31, 1904. Serial No. 222,818.

To all whOm' it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JULIUS BERGOFF, a citizen of the United States,residing at Buffalo, in

the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented new and usefulImprovements both in its open and closed positions.

The object of my invention is to provide a sim )le and inex aenslvecover-retamim device of this kind which is especially applica-.

ble to jewelry -boxes or similar receptacles containing blocks orcushions and which is not liable to crush or disiigure such blocks ortear, chafe, or otherwlse deface the usual covering of the box.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of ajewelry-box containing my invention, the covering and the usual blocksor cushions being omitted. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the boxwith the cover open, the plane of the section being at one end of thehinge-leaves. Fig. 3 is asimilar section with the cover closed. Fig. 4:is a longitudinal section with the cover closed, taken centrally throughthe hinge. Fig. 5 is a horizontal section in line 5 5, Fig. 4:. Fig. 6is a perspective view of the retaining-spring.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout theseveral views.

A indicates the body, and B the cover, of the box, which may beof anysuitable form and dimensions and which are preferably stamped out ofsheet metal. When the box is used as a receptacle for jewelry, itsmembers may be covered with leather, velvet, or other suitable materialand provided with the customary blocks orcushions. (Not shown in thedrawings.) The cover and body members are connected together by asuitable hinge consisting, preferably, of leaves C O, having eyes orknuckles which receive a pintle 0. In the construction shown in thedrawings the leaves are secured to the rear walls of the body and thecover by pointed tongues 0,

formed integral with the body and cover and passing inwardly throughslits d, formed in the leaves and clenched against the latter, as shownin Figs. 1 and 5.

E indicates a spring for yieldingly retaining the cover either in itsopen or its closed position. This spring is preferably oblong orrectangular in form, and consists of a single piece of spring-wire bentinto that shape. The end bars a of the spring extend across the jointbetween the rear walls of the body A and cover B and are located at theends of the hinge-leaves C or adjacent to the sides of the box members,as shown, while the longitudinal upper and lower bars 0' a of the springare suitably attached to or connected with said rear walls, so that theend bars e are sprung or deflected both in opening and closing thecover. Preferably the upper and lower bars of the spring engage underthe marginal upper and lower portions of the leaves, which latter areraised for this purpose, and, if desired, theleaf which covers theunsplit bar a may be beaded or provided on its inner side with a groovef for receiving said bar, as shown in the drawings. The end bars a ofthe spring are bowed or curved in the direction of their length withtheir concave sides facing the hinge of the cover. By this constructionwhen the cover is open the end bars of the spring are relaxed and theirupper ends stand on the rear side of the deadcenter, or, in other words,a line 9 drawn through the lower ends of said end bars and thehinge-pintle 0, as shown in Fig. 2, thus yieldingly holding the coverinthat position. When the cover is swung toward its closed position, theupper ends of the end bars move forward with the rear wall of the cover,gradually straining these bars until their upper ends pass beyond thedead-center line g, as shown in Fig. 3, when said bars react andcontract to their relaxed condition, thus automatically completing theclosing movement of the cover and yieldingly holding it in thatposition. The spring will also hold the cover in an intermediate orpartly-closed position when its end bars are on said dead-center line.

The split bar 0 of the spring is preferably loosely confined under theadjacent hinge-leaf C, so that the end portions of the spring which formsaid bar are free to play up and down or come and go as the end bars arestrained in opening and closing the cover. This allows the end bars tomove laterally as well as backward and forward and causes the strain tobe distributed over a greater portion of the spring than if its endswere tightly held in place. The result is that the spring is gentler andsofter in action and not liable to cause the cover to close forcibly andcut the velvet or other covering at the meeting edges of the cover andthe body of the box. It is obvious that the same result would beobtained if the spring were reversed, so as to bring its split ordivided bar under the lower leaf of the hinge.

As the bowed end bars 6 of the retainingspring are located at the endsof the hingeleaves or near the side's of the box members, they do notbulge into the usual block or cushion of the jewelry-box and detractfrom its appearance by crushing or indenting it when the cover isclosed,as is the case when such a spring is located midway between thesides of the box members. The spring can be cheaply made of a singlepiece of wire, and as the leaves of the hinge are utilized for attachingthe spring to the box members the cost of the attachment is exceedinglysmall.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination of the body and the cover ofa box, a hinge connecting the same, and a retaining-spring comprisinglongitudinal up- .per and lower bars attached to the body and the coverand bowed end bars connecting said longitudinal bars and locatedadjacent to the sides of said box members, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination with the body and the cover of a box and a hingeconnecting the same, of a retaining-spring comprising longitudinal upperand lower bars attached to the body and the cover and terminating nearthe sides of said box members, and bowed end bars connecting the ends ofsaid longitudinal bars and extending across the hinge-joint between saidbox members, one of said longitudinal bars being split and the sectionsthereof free to move toward and from the other longitudinal bar,substantially as set forth.

3. The combination with the body and the cover of a box, of a separateconnecting-hinge having its leaves secured to the inner sides of saidmembers, and a retaining-spring extending across the hinge-joint betweensaid box members and having its end portions engaged with saidhingeleaves, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination with the body and the cover of a box, of a separateconnecting-hinge having its leaves secured to the inner sides of saidmembers, and a rectangular retainingspring having its longitudinal barsinterlocked with said hinge-leaves and its end bars bowed end extendedacross the hinge-joint between the box members and located adjacent tothe sides of the box members, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination with the body and the cover of a box, of a separateconnecting-hinge having its leaves secured to the inner sides of saidmembers, and a retaining-spring consisting of a single piece of wirebent into rectangular form, the longitudinal bars of the spring beingconfined under the corresponding outer edges of said hinge-leaves andone of said bars being formed by the opposing end portions of the wire,the end bars of the spring being bowed and arranged adjacent to thesides of the box members, substantially as set forth.

Witness my hand this 25th day of August, 1904.

JULIUS BERGOFF.

Witnesses:

EDWARD WARNER, G. F, GEYER.

